Former PH Northern star Joel Whymer eager for challenge on MSU women's basketball staff

One of the area's all-time great boys high school basketball players is back in his home state working in the Big Ten.

Former Port Huron Northern star Joel Whymer was named director of recruiting for the Michigan State University women's basketball team last week.

Whymer will also serve as an assistant under new coach Robyn Fralick, who he worked for at Bowling Green University from 2018-23.

"The transition has been pretty good so far," said Whymer, who who graduated from Northern in 2003. "We've hit the ground running with the whole process of meeting with our players, recruiting, navigating the transfer portal — everything just happened pretty fast. It's awesome, it's exciting, but it's probably going to take a little time before we get fully situated."

While the scenery is new, most of his colleagues are familiar. Associate head coach Kim Cameron, assistant coach Maria Kasza and director of basketball operations Monique Rosati were also brought on from Fralick's Bowling Green staff.

"I am thrilled to have Coach Whymer join us at MSU," Fralick said in a press release when her staff was announced. "He is a committed worker, high-level encourager and diligent recruiter. He brings a positive attitude and authenticity into everything he does. Coach Whymer is very connected and will work hard on the recruiting trail for the program. We have worked together the past five seasons, and he has been instrumental in program and player development."

Whymer was an assistant for five years with the Falcons. He was also the program's director of recruiting from 2019-23.

"It was an awesome opportunity to have our staff stay intact," Whymer said. "And then add two people that are really good, experienced and will help us navigate this ... it's an unbelievable opportunity. (Accepting the offer) was something that didn't take much thought."

Added Whymer: "Michigan State is real exciting for a lot of reasons. With the location, familiarity and just growing up in Michigan — Michigan State, the Breslin Center and everything is a pretty big deal."

Whymer has deep roots in the state, particularly in Port Huron. His dad, Jim, was the longtime sports editor at the Times Herald. He has two older siblings, Traci and Kyle, the latter of who is a teacher and the boys golf coach at Northern.

As a high school senior in 2003, Joel was named the Times Herald's Player of the Year for boys basketball. His coaching career began nine years later at Marine City, where he spent two seasons leading the boys team.

In May 2014, he was hired as the women's basketball coach at St. Clair County Community College. It was during this time when Joel discovered a passion for recruiting, which has followed him from SC4 to Wayne State University to Bowling Green and now to Michigan State.

"(My job) is to organize us with recruiting and be plugged in to all the players," Whymer said. "There's also the compliance piece of it — (managing) the database, logging and organizing (on-campus) visits and everything that comes with it.

"(The recruiting aspect) is something I've really taken a liking too. That's what really drew me in when I left Marine City to go to SC4 to coach the women's program. I was excited about the recruiting piece of it — of being able to pick your own players and build your team."

Having arrived in East Lansing early last week, his work with the Spartans is well underway.

"I'm most excited about a new challenge," Whymer said. "Everything (at first) seemed real chaotic with moving, finding a place to live, getting your email setup and all that stuff. But once we were able to get on the court with the kids this week, all those things go out the window. And that's the best part about it — getting to know the players and giving them a great experience."

Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper.